The good and the bad: ISU vs EWU

It’s hard to believe Idaho State’s 56-53 loss to No. 2 Eastern Washington wasn’t even the highest-scoring game Saturday in the Big Sky Conference.

Montana State and Sacramento State battled to a 59-56 final, a game where the Bobcats scored the game-winning touchdown with four seconds left.

The ’Cats were able to do what Idaho State never had the chance to. The Bengals needed a defensive stop to get the ball back to their offense for one more drive in the fourth quarter. But Eastern Washington’s Vernon Adams and the Eagles made just enough plays to escape with their 12th straight Big Sky Conference win.

Idaho State (2-3, 1-1 BSC) gave Eastern Washington (5-1, 2-0 BSC) everything it could handle, and now the Bengals return to Holt Arena for back-to-back home games against Simon Fraser (Saturday) and Southern Utah (Oct. 18).

 After dragging the Eagles close to a major upset at home, Idaho State head coach Mike Kramer was already hammering home the point that the Bengals can’t overlook Simon Fraser. And he also expects great home crowds.

“It’s a whole new deal for us,” he said Saturday on Eastern Washington’s red field, The Inferno. “A couple weeks ago, I said, ‘Hey, fans shouldn’t come to watch us play until we’re good.’ They’d better come and watch us play.”
Before that, though, let’s look back and decipher the pluses and minuses from Idaho State’s three-point loss.

Plus
Justin Arias. He might be the best quarterback in the nation that no one outside of the Big Sky Conference has heard of.

Arias outplayed Sacramento State’s Garrett Safron two weeks ago and then nearly matched Eastern Washington touchdown for touchdown. Arias topped the 400-yard passing mark for the second time in two games and his six touchdown passes tied an Idaho State school record that dates back to 1969.

He was at his best in the fourth quarter. ISU’s top two outside receivers — junior Madison Mangum and sophomore Broc Malcom — were both out of the game with injuries. Those two had caught 13 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns before being forced out. Arias adjusted and started to target tight ends Tyler Wright and Tyler Graves.

The fifth-year senior never got his hands on the ball with a chance tie or win the game. Eastern Washington would have been terrified if he had.

Minus
Idaho State’s defense. Leading up to the game, the Bengals’ Taison Manu said Eastern Washignton had the best offense the Bengals would face all season.

So the fact that EWU rang up 617 total yards and scored at least 50 points in a game for the third time this season isn’t a total surprise.

If you’re searching for positives, Idaho State cornerback Vai Peko intercepted Adams and two other Bengals dropped interceptions of their own.

“We were in it at the end because we made enough plays defensively to drag ourselves back in it,” Kramer said.

Ultimately, the defense couldn’t get enough stops. They were even helped by the fact that Adams played the second half with a broken foot that will keep him off the field for the next three to six weeks.

Plus/Minus
A plus for the Big Sky’s offenses and a minus for the league’s defenses. Saturday featured three games where the teams combined for at least 80 points. Six teams had a minimum of 500 yards of total offense; four surpassed 600.

Arias, Adams, Sacramento State’s Garrett Safron and Montana State’s Dakota Prukop combined for 20 touchdown passes.

A little defense was played in the Big Sky. Montana and North Dakota battled to an 18-15 final and Northern Colorado forced five turnovers to upset Northern Arizona 24-17 at home.

Minus
Idaho State’s posteason chances. If the Bengals want to make the playoffs, they’ll need to either win the Big Sky outright to take the league’s automatic spot in the playoffs or earn an at-large bid.

The FCS playoff selection committee considers teams with six Division I wins instead of seven, which was the benchmark before the playoffs expanded from 20 to 24 teams for the 2013 season.

Today, the Bengals have a single Division I win and play six more teams from the FCS on their 2014 schedule (plus Division II Simon Fraser). So they’ll have to least finish the season winning six of their final seven games (the Bengals would have no shot for an at-large bid if they lose to Simon Fraser).

The margin for error is razor thin.
 
Plus
The fact we’re even bringing up Idaho State and the postseason.

BENGALS IN THE BIG SKY RANKINGS
— The Bengals have the Big Sky’s No. 4 scoring offense, averaging 34 points a game. ISU’s defense is dead last in scoring defense, giving up an average of 42 points a game.

— ISU is tied with Cal Poly and Portland State for giving up the second-fewest sacks (6) in the Big Sky.

— The Bengals are third in the league in third-down conversion percentage converting 43.4 percent of the time. ISU is 10th in the Big Sky allowing opponents to convert 46 percent of the time on third down.

— After running for 118 yards and a touchdown against Eastern Washington, Xavier Finney remains as the No. 1 rusher in the Big Sky with 632 total yards.

— Freshman Mario Jenkins is eighth in the conference in tackles with 10 a game. Junior Taison Manu is 10th (9.2 tackles a game) and senior Mitch Beckstead is 16th (8.6).

—Senior Austin Graves sits tied for sixth in the league with 3.5 sacks

BIG SKY PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
The Big Sky Conference selected Montana State quarterback Dakota Prukop as the Offensive Player of the Week, Montana defensive end Zack Wagenmann as the Defensive Player of the Week and Montana State returner Gunnar Brekke as the Special Teams Player of the Week.

Prukop accounted for eight touchdowns and amassed 488 yards of total offense to lead the Bobcats to a win over Sacramento State.

Wagenmann registered eight tackles — three for loss — with two sacks, two quarterback hurries, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup in Montana's win at North Dakota.

 Brekke tallied 244 kick return yards and set up the game-winning score in Montana State’s win against Sac State.